Over 1.6 million people died globally in 2017 from harmful exposure to PM2.5 emissions from household use of solid fuels such as wood, coal, charcoal, and agricultural residues for cooking according to estimates by the Global Burden of Disease 2017 (GBD 2017) Project.

1. EminentPanelConference,Accra,August7th -9th,2020
Increasing the use of clean cooking fuels in
Ghana: A cost benefit analysis of three
interventions
Dr Maxwell Dalaba: Research Fellow( Navrongo Health Research
Centre, Ghana; University Of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho,Ghana).
Dr Bjorn Larson and Dr Brad Wong: Copenhagen Consensus

2. This is why my topic is important
• Exposure to smoke from solid fuels or inefficient fuels caused nearly 4 million premature
deaths each year in developing countries, including 18,000 deaths in Ghana every year
(WHO,2018).
• Exposure to smoke from cooking contributes to a range of chronic illnesses and acute health
impacts such as early childhood pneumonia, cataracts, lung cancer, bronchitis, cardiovascular
disease, and low birth weight .
• Women and young children are the most affected, with more than 2,200 children in Ghana
dying every year as a result of acute lower respiratory infections caused by the use of solid
fuels (WHO,2018).
• There is therefore the need to promote clean cooking methods to improve health and the
environment.

3. More about the current state
• According to the Ghana MHS 2017 survey, 78% of the population in Ghana use solid fuels for
cooking, consisting of 45% wood and 33% charcoal, while 22% use gas (LPG) and some
electricity.
• The use of LPG is concentrated in urban areas with only 15% of LPG users residing in rural
areas.
• In rural areas, 74% of the population use wood as primary cooking fuel, while 18% use
charcoal. Thus 83% of wood users and 28% of charcoal users reside in rural areas.
• Rural Ghanaian households spend nearly 1.4 million hours or 680 thousand full time work-
years on fuelwood collection.
• Therefore increased access to improved cookstoves and LPG has the potential to improve
health and improve economic gains

4. Interventions analyzed
I. Promotion of improved fuelwood and charcoal cookstoves.
II. Expanded distribution of LPG in rural areas
III. Elimination of taxes on LPG fuel for cooking.

5. Intervention I: Promotion of improved
fuelwood and charcoal cookstoves
Traditional 3 stone stove Traditional Charcoal
stove
Improved Gyapa wood
stove

6. Overview of the intervention
• The use of inefficient biomass stoves for cooking leads to health consequences. It is
therefore important to promote improved, efficient biomass stoves in order to reduce
the burden of HAP as well as reduce biomass consumption and monetary expenditure
and collection time.
• The proposed improved biomass cookstove is the Gyapa wood and charcoal stoves.
• The Gyapa stoves cooks food more quickly than traditional cookstoves, requires 50-60%
less fuel and produces less smoky fumes compared to the traditional methods of
cooking. The stove can be manufactured in Ghana.
• At least two Gyapa stoves are needed for households to minimize the continued use of
their traditional stoves.
• This adds to the initial cost but provides substantial increased benefits.

7. Costs
Cost GHS
Cost of stove 178
Stove O&M 21
Promotion program 260
Total costs 459
Cost of Gyapa per household (GHS)
• Gyapa stove (2 stoves per household): GHc40 per stove ( US$20 with exchange rate of
US$1=GHC5).
• Stove maintenance cost per year: 5% of stove cost
• Stove promotion program: US$ 34(GHc6.8) per household per year.
• Useful life of Gyapa stove: 3 years
• Discount rate of costing: 8%
• Time horizon: 10 years

8. Benefits
• Health improvements (DALYs):Valued at 1.3 times GDP per capita in 2020.
• Valued cooking time savings: 20 minutes per day for improved wood fuel Gyapa(300-400 cedi
per household in a year)
• and 15 minutes per day improved charcoal Gyapa (200-300 GHS per household in a year)
• Biomass fuel savings: 40% for improved fuelwood Gyapa and 30% for improved charcoal
Gyapa
• A value of time: 50% of wage rate
Benefit Improved
wood stove
(Rural)
Improved wood
stove
(urban)
Improved
charcoal stove
(rural)
Improved
charcoal
stove (urban)
Health benefits
1,456 1,374 703 747
Cooking time savings
1,688 2,578 1,266 1,933
Fuel savings 1,013 2,173 696 1,024
Total benefits 4,156 6,125 2,665 3,705
Benefits per household (GHS per household)

9. BCR
•If 10% of all current users of
charcoal and wood switch to
improved stoves (565,000
households), 190 deaths would be
avoided per year in the medium run.
•The estimated BCRs for improved
cookstove promotion are between 6
and 13.
...... meaning benefits are between
GHS 6 and 13 for every GHS 1 spent
GHS
Improved wood cookstove (rural)
Total benefits 4,156
Total costs 459
BCR 9.1
Improved wood cookstove (urban)
Total benefits 6,125
Total costs 459
BCR 13.3
Improved charcoal cookstove
(rural)
Total benefits 2,665
Total costs 459
BCR 5.8
Improved charcoal cookstove
(urban)
Total benefits 3,705
Total costs 459
BCR 8.1

10. Intervention II: Expanded distribution of LPG in
rural areas
Motorking for distributing LPG

11. Overview of the intervention
• One of the causes of low usage of LPG, particularly in the rural areas is price of LPG and
poor access to LPG (Asante et al. 2018, Dalaba et al, 2018).
• All or almost all of the LPG refilling stations are clustered in and near urban areas.
• Intervention:
- A cylinder recirculation program replaces current system of individual ownership of
cylinders
- Motor-king (motorcycle with smaller trailer) distribution network from refilling stations
to village retail outlets.
- The intervention proposed would build on existing refilling stations and not replacing
them

12. Costs and access:
Disaggregated Cost (
pop) Within 15 km
Within 15-25km
Initial capital cost
Additional cylinders 222,213 255,340
Sensitization of retailers 12,556 14,230
Motorkings 24,889 38,133
Station inspection 2,939 5,103
Recurrent annual cost
Motorking maintenance 2,489 3,813
Motorking fuel cost 14,282 21,881
Station inspection 197 303
Motorking drivers 23,696 36,304
Expand reach of LPG from 15km to 25km
around urban centers
• Makes LPG effectively 28% cheaper for
those within 15km -> extra 70,000
households take up LPG
• Increases access of rural population for
those 15-25km away -> extra 380,000
households take up LPG
Largest up front costs are new cylinders; largest recurrent are for motorking drivers
Within 15km
Within 15km
15-25km away
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Current System Cylinder recirculation
LPG
users
in
rural
areas
Users of LPG in rural areas
by distance to refilling station

13. Because the intervention will cause so many people to start
using LPG, the biggest cost from a societal perspective is fuel
• Implementing a rural distribution model enabled by
cylinder recirculation would mean 448,000 households
would adopt the use of LPG in rural areas, thus
increasing the percentage of the rural population using
LPG from 6 to 17%.
• Over 10 years, even after accounting for
discontinuation, the largest cost by far would be fuel
(1400m GHS) -> mostly paid by consumers.
• LPG stove, maintenance and other costs are 227m GHS
over 10 years
• Distribution network is estimated to cost ~234m GHS
over 10 years.
On the next page these figures are presented on a per
HH level
LPG fuel
LPG stove and
other uptake
costs
Distribution
network
-
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
Millions
10 year costs of LPG recirculation
intervention

14. Benefits and BCR
Benefits of switching to LPG for new rural users (GHS per household)
Switching from
fuelwood
Switching from
charcoal
Health benefits 2,476 1,040
Cooking time savings 3,375 3,375
Fuel savings 2,531 2,320
Total benefits 8,383 6,734
Interventions Benefit Cost BCR
Expanded distribution of LPG in
rural areas
New users of LPG
(switching from wood)
8,383 4,848 1.7
New users of LPG
(switching from charcoal)
6,734 3,625 1.9
Current users of LPG 2,177 347 6.3
New and current users of LPG 4,926 2,328 2.1
BCR (GHS per household)
• The intervention would give 3.5m rural
households access to LPG within their
communities, thus 448,000 households
would adopt the use of LPG in rural areas
and would increase the percentage of the
rural population using LPG from 6 to 17%.
• This would reduce deaths from HAP by 180
per year, with more benefits going to
current fuel wood users .
• 40 min time savings per day for both
current fuelwood and charcoal stove users
• 30 min collection savings for fuel wood
users; savings in charcoal usage of GHS
0.77/kg.
• Current users of LPG save time and vehicle
costs from accessing LPG
The BCR of this intervention is 2.1.

15. Intervention III: Elimination of LPG taxes

16. Overview of the intervention
• LPG used to be subsidized by government, but in recent times, as at July
2019, there has been a 23% tax on LPG.
• This increase in the price of LPG, in part caused by the tax, is making some
households cut LPG consumption and increase the use of solid fuels for
cooking.
• The intervention analyzed is elimination of LPG fuel tax increase of LPG in
Ghana

17. Cost, Benefits and BCR
Response to tax removal Benefit Cost BCR
LPG from fuelwood Rural 11,084 7,549 1.5
Urban
15,626 6,997 2.2
Total
14,854 7,091 2.1
LPG from charcoal Rural 9,435 6,336 1.5
Urban 12,374 6,275 2.0
Total 11,875 6,283 1.9
LPG (from wood and
charcoal)
Total
12,471 6,445 1.9
• Same costs for stove, promotion as in previous analysis
• Same improved health, cooking time savings and fuels savings as in previous
analyses
• Included GHS 2700 per HH cost and benefit of tax transfer over 10 years
Cost, Benefits and BCR per household (GHS)
• Eliminating the 23% VAT on LPG
would lead to 391,000 urban
households and 80,000 rural
households switching to LPG
due to the lower cost of fuel.
• This would reduce deaths by
193 per year in the medium run
while delivering significant time
and fuel savings.
• Households which currently use
LPG, would also enjoy the
benefit of reduced fuel costs.
• However, elimination of the tax
would cost the government
1.3bn GHS in lost revenue over
10 years
• The BCR of this intervention is
1.9

18. Conclusion
• While the BCRs for promotion of improved charcoal and fuelwood cookstoves are several
times larger than for the interventions for expanded use of LPG and LPG tax removal
• The health impact of using LPG is roughly 50% larger than the health impact of improved
cookstoves.
• However, improved biomass cookstoves can serve as an intermediate solution for
households that elect to do so

19. SUMMARY BCR TABLE
INTERVENTION Benefit Cost BCR
1a Promotion of improved wood stove Rural 4,156 459 9.1
1b Promotion of improved wood stove Urban
6125 459 13.3
1c Promotion of improved charcoal stove Rural
2665 459 5.8
1d Promotion of improved charcoal stove Urban
3705 459 8.1
Expanded distribution of LPG in rural areas Rural
4,926 2,328 2.1
2a Current users of LPG Rural 2177 347 6.3
2b New Users of LPG Rural 7064 3869 1.8
Elimination on taxes on LPG for cooking
3a Excluding Tax transfer National 9770 3744 2.6
3b Including Tax transfer National 12471 6445 1.9

20. THANK YOU